Pollster Ben Ephson has said vote-buying has come to stay in Ghanaian politics because it is the doing of the politicians and it is not going to stop.
His comment comes after the defeated national chairman hopeful of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Stephen Asamoah Boateng (Asabee), accused the eventual winner, Stephen Ntim of vote-buying in the just-ended NPP national delegates’ conference.
Asabee said he only gave the delegates transportation after visiting them during his campaign but his opponents were giving out monies for votes.
Reacting to this claim on Class FM on Monday, 18 July 2022, Mr Ephson said Asabee was only being a sore loser.
“Asamoah Boateng was a sore loser and I’ve told him personally, I said: ‘massa, you lost it, stop it’. He’s been a Member of Parliament before, is he saying he didn’t pay money to get a vote? What is he talking about paying TNT (transport fare), are they your children?” Mr Ephson quizzed in an interview with show host Kofi Oppong Asamoah.
In his view, Asabee was “out-paid period!”.
“It is sour grapes, is he saying that on his way to winning and being in parliament he didn’t pay a penny to convince voters? It is something that the politicians have inculcated in the delegates and that thing is not going to stop,” Mr Ephson stated.
He stressed further that “as for money in politics that thing can never be stopped because it is the politicians doing.”
In an attempt to explain his point, he indicated that “you elect an MP, the first two years he won’t mind you, from the third year Christmas time he would start bringing you cloth, giving you money for chicken for your soup, the delegate is not a fool, he knows in the third year there will be elections to elect a parliamentary candidate so you are softening him, it’s a game they play, so it will never stop.”
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